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A Strong Run to His Second Wimbledon Title: Jannik Sinner
Keystone
Jannik Sinner successfully defended his title at the Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament on grass. In the final, he defeated Alexander Zverev—who had been playing very well for a long time—6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-4.
Germany's Alexander Zverev put on another strong performance in his first Wimbledon final, following his first Grand Slam victory in Paris a month ago. But Sinner, the world No. 1, made better use of his chances. After three and three-quarters hours, the 24-year-old Italian secured his fifth major title, his first this year.
It took more than two and a half hours before either player managed to break serve. This was only the ninth time in the 139-year history of this historic tournament that it didn’t rain at all during the entire two weeks. Consequently, the grass on the legendary Center Court was dry, hard, and fast. Zverev, in particular, served superbly for long stretches of the match.
He’s probably most frustrated by those few minutes in the middle of the third set. At 3-3, the 29-year-old from Hamburg had his very first break point of the match, but failed to capitalize on the opportunity. It remained his only one in the entire match. In the very next game, he lost his serve for the first time. That proved to be the turning point in the third set and put Sinner in an excellent position with a 2-1 set lead.
In the fourth set, the score was again 3-3 when the South Tyrolean secured the decisive break. With a forehand winner, he then capitalized on his very first match point in a high-class and entertaining match.
The first two sets went to a tiebreak—the first time that had happened since 2015 between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. In the first tiebreak, it took until the 16th point before the returner (Zverev) won the first point to make it 9–7. In the second, however, Sinner quickly seized an early lead and, with a score of 7–2, evened the match at 1–1 in sets.
With Sinner, the duopoly at the top returned. Since January 2024, the Italian and Carlos Alcaraz—who had to withdraw due to a wrist injury—have won ten out of eleven Grand Slam tournaments. The exception was the French Open. And Zverev rode the momentum of his victory in Paris to his best Wimbledon performance by far. Even though he ultimately fell short of clinching Germany’s first Wimbledon title since Michael Stick a quarter-century ago, he has taken a significant step forward and could continue to challenge “Sincaraz” in the future. For now, he has overtaken Alcaraz in the world rankings and is now No. 2.
12.07.2026, 21:05
